Welcome to our first annual Grave Decay horror awards! We’ve covered a lot of movie posters over the past year, both for newly releases movies and brand-new posters of classic horror films. For this category, the movie didn’t have to come out in 2018, just the poster (no re-prints or variants).
All of the movie posters we reported on throughout the year, as well as a few that we missed, were in our pool of consideration. We then narrowed the field down to ten nominees which we ranked. So without further ado, here are the nine nominees & one winner of our first ever Best Horror Movie Poster award:
Venom
We reported on our tenth favorite movie poster of 2018 back in May, The Poster Posse’s “Venom” by artist Orlando Arocena. While the film’s official Japanese movie poster was pretty killer, we felt that Arocena’s art hit all the same notes without computer graphics.
Predator
Another creation from The Poster Posse picked up our ninth favorite spot. Back in September, we reported on Rich Davies’ take on the original 1987 “Predator” movie poster. While the newest installment in the franchise has a pretty good official poster, and an even cooler San Diego Comic-Con version, Davies’ piece just has so much more going on that we had to give it the nomination.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
“A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Masters” by Mike Saputo
Back in May, we reported on our eighth favorite movie poster of 2018, Mondo’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master” by artist Mike Saputo. The wide view poster depicts one of the strangest scenes from any A Nightmare on Elm Street film: beach Freddy.
The Thing
Our seventh favorite movie poster of 2018 just released at the very tail end of the year, Bottleneck Gallery’s “The Thing” by artist Matthew Peak. Based on John Carpenter’s 1982 remake, the gruesome poster also sports glow-in-the-dark ink activated by a blacklight.
The Blob
We reported on our sixth favorite movie poster of the year back in June, Gutter Garbs’s “The Blob” by artist Steven Luros Holliday. This poster has a lot going on and we’re still surprised at the level of detail Holliday was able to achieve in a largely monochromatic piece.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Back in May, we reported on our fifth favorite movie poster of 2018, Mondo’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” created by artist Robert Sammelin for The Texas Frightmare Weekend. We liked this one so much that poster just isn’t big enough, we want it on an accent wall!
Child’s Play 2
The Texas Frightmare Weekend, also produced our fourth favorite movie poster, Mondo’s “Child’s Play 2” by artist Matt Ryan Tobin.
Freddy Vs. Jason
Our third favorite movie poster of 2018, Bottleneck Gallery’s “Freddy Vs. Jason” by artist Anthony Petire features a black & white Jason Voorhees with red blood dripping over him to reveal Freddy Krueger – very cool!
Halloween (& Variant)
2018 had a ton of Halloween movie posters, thanks to this year’s sequel/reboot and the 40th anniversary of the original film, so choosing just one was very tough. Ultimately, our second favorite movie poster was Mondo’s “Halloween” (and Variant) by artist Jason Edmiston. The two-piece complimentary posters feature two different points of view from the iconic scene in John Carpenter’s 1978 slasher where Michael Myers bursts through the closet door where Laurie Strode is hiding.
Mandy
Which brings us to our favorite movie poster of 2018, Studio Ronin’s “Mandy” by artist Christopher Shy. While Shy produced a number of exquisite posters this year, the amount of detail in this Mandy piece is mind-boggling, and zooming in only reveals more.
Well that wraps up the 2018 Best Horror Movie Poster Design category. Congratulations to Studio Ronin & artist Christopher Shy for taking home the win despite incredibly tough competition, and thanks to all the nominees for creating such amazing art!